Business Review Parties Like Any 90-Year-Old Would

Overlooking Columbus Circle and the sparkling Manhattan skyline, business leaders gathered on Tuesday evening to hoist martinis in celebration of Harvard Business Review's 90th anniversary.

Influential business thinker and professor Clayton Christensen, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts were among those picked by HBR to participate in moderated talks on disruptive innovation, big ideas that drive business, and leadership.

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Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts
Elie Photography

Mr. Christensen, in a discussion with Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky, said that J&J disrupts the market to its advantage with innovations such as tools for endoscopic surgery (as opposed to open surgery), disposable lenses (rather than fixed lenses) and tools to manage diabetes from home.

Ogilvy CEO Christopher Graves, Edelman CEO Richard Edelman, and David Yurman President Carol Pennelli were among the roughly 200 business leaders and Harvard Business School alumnus who attended the evening's talks.

Mr. Schultz, fueled by his recent initiative to protest the government by withholding political contributions, touched on the current domestic and international political climate.

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Starbucks head Howard Schultz.
Elie Photography

"Never before has there been such a domino effect," he said, using Greece's economic catastrophe to illustrate the connectedness of the world's business economy. "If Greece doesn't maintain its position in the euro zone, what could happen? If [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel doesn't have the courage to do what's right, what will happen to the euro and what does that mean for the rest of the world?"

Separately, Adi Ignatius, the Harvard Business Review's CEO, shared a few uplifting remarks to highlight the publication's recently released annual economic survey.

"The good news is that 56% of business leaders say they are more optimistic about Washington's ability to lead now that the election is over," he said. "Interestingly, much of that optimism came from overseas. Two-thirds of European business leaders said they're hopeful, while just less than half of U.S. respondents said the same thing."

Mr. Ignatius is optimistic about his own business's future. Since he took the command post four years ago, the company has seen increases in subscription and circulation rates.

"I like to think about 20 years from now what people will say about this era was all about, and I believe it's going to be about companies truly embracing sustainability and shared values," Mr. Ignatius said. "I think learning how to integrate these qualities is the code we're going to crack."

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